LANGLEY — Mirror, mirror on the wall, who can tell what makes South Whidbey soccer fall?

In a reflection of the first half of the season, the second half is shaping up much the same. The Falcon boys soccer team lost 3-1 to the Cedarcrest Red Wolves on Monday following a 3-1 loss to their Whidbey Island rivals, the Coupeville Wolves on Friday.

Cedarcrest (9-3 Cascade Conference, 9-4 overall) took a 3-0 lead before South Whidbey scored in the final 10 minutes. Losing senior goalie Garret Thomson only added injury to insult. In the 26th minute, Thomson jumped for a loose ball and collided with one of several bodies, both Falcon and Red Wolf. He fell to the grass, yelling in agony and clutching his right knee. He was carried off the field by the team’s trainer Jim Christensen, Falcon head coach Joel Gerlach, a pair of student physical trainers and Falcon senior co-captain Noah Moeller.

Soon after, the Red Wolves struck at a depleted and exhausted Falcon defense. Several Falcons had looks at clearing the ball, but none could send it across midfield, and Red Wolves senior Cody Paxman scored on a loose ball that he chipped over reserve goalie Andrew Holt.

The Red Wolves added two more scores in the second half. Red Wolves senior mid Collin Hintzke tapped in a goal off a deflected save by Holt in the 65th. Cedarcrest scored its third and final goal on a shot from sophomore mid Darian Pendergraft from 30 yards out that ricocheted off the right post, past Holt and into the left corner.

Falcon senior mid Jimmy Price scored the lone South Whidbey goal in the 76th minute that rolled past a diving Red Wolves goalie Thomas O’Donnell. South Whidbey had a pair of near scores by Moeller, the Falcons’ leading scorer. Both missed wide only by a foot or so.

That was the second loss in four days for the Falcons (7-5 Cascade Conference, 8-5 overall), who came off a bitter defeat by Coupeville.

“The first one was an upset, but not this time.”

Those were the words of  Gerlach after his team fell for the second time this season to Coupeville.

The first time around, the Wolves won 1-0 in a shootout. South Whidbey had entered that match 3-0 and unscored upon in conference play. Coupeville was 0-3 in league and had been outscored 2-11.

Although South Whidbey possessed a superior record to Coupeville heading into the recent contest, the Wolves were clearly the better team.

“It is a pretty intense rivalry; anything can happen no matter what the records,” said Coupeville coach Paul Mendes.

Coupeville (5-6 Cascade Conference, 7-6 overall) controlled the match early but Falcon keeper Garret Thomson turned away several shots until a mistake set up the Wolves’ first goal.

A South Whidbey defender passed the ball directly in front of the goal where Coupeville’s JP Ward intercepted and drilled in a score from 12 yards out in the 14th minute.

At that point, South Whidbey picked up its play and put more pressure on Coupeville and goalie Kole Kellison, subbing for injured starter Zach Forland.

The Falcons countered when Moeller zipped up the right sideline and fired a diagonal shot into the upper left corner to even the match in the 20th minute.

Coupeville regained the lead in the 31st minute when, after several passes, Nathan Lamb, off an assist from Sean Donley, drilled a shot by Thomson.

From that point, Coupeville dominated play and South Whidbey had few scoring opportunities.

Then in the 72nd minute, Coupeville scored a goal set up by a controversial call. The Wolves lofted a free kick from midfield that ricocheted off several players. In the scramble Lamb got off a shot that was deflected and escaped Thomson.

Gerlach was upset with the lack of a call on what he saw as a foul when one of his players was pulled to the ground.

“The ref gets an assist for that goal,” he said.

Gerlach said he was surprised by the outcome, but he credited Coupeville and its coaching staff.

“Paul did a great job of coaching,” Gerlach said. “They ran a 3-6-1; we had never seen that before. Although Coupeville is a 1A school, the coaches always do a good job with what they have.”

Before that match, the Falcons had surrendered only seven goals all season and never allowed more than two in a match.

Whidbey News-Times sports editor Jim Waller contributed to this report.